Rabbit Island - Leader: Robyn Walsh
The group met at 9.30am at Stoke. Quite a cool southerly blowing which meant we would be sheltered from any wind on the Rabbit Island beachfront which faces north. The sky was hazy but slowly getting sunnier and so it became rather warm for our morning walk. Interest for the walk was shown from a possible 16, but we now had 11 enthusiasts after a few pulled out. We arived at the carpark at the wetern limits right on 10am and began walking east towards the Nelson end. Along the way, discussion was had on the different varieties of shells on the beach for the benefit of Kay from San Diego, while some members couldn’t resist the urge to start picking up plastic rubbish. This resulted in drink bottles and rubber gloves being carried in a broken plastic bucket. The beach was empty of people – we seemed to be the only ones around.
At 11.20am with it getting quite hot, members decided to retire for lunch when a good spot was found. Three of the party carried on for 20 minutes more before they stopped for lunch. We began the wlak back at 12.30pm a while after the others had come along. By now a strong breeze was blowing in off the sea making it not so pleasant. We arrived back at our cars at 1.45pm and back into town by 2.15pm after a very enjoyable half day’s outing.
The 6 members and 5 non-members were: Ross Price, Brenda Sinclair, Vivienne Lightfoot, Caroline Spence, Pat Whittaker, Kay & Joe Waller (ex San Diego), Denis Parnell, Gavin Holmwood, Lesley Spedding, and leader Robyn.